Bering Sea Gold (2012–…): Season 9, Episode 6 - Never Say Die - full transcript
Narrator:
Now on "Bering Sea Gold"...
Kris: Dad, you can't
break up the teams!
At this point right now,
everything is starting
to come unfrailed.
I need my brother and my dad
to stand behind me.
Family is the only reason
I'm doing this.
Man:
The gold is there. I've seen it.
Now it's just building
the machine to get it.
The future of the family
is at stake.
I'm going to make it happen
no matter what.
Man:
Whoa! Shut it off!
Shut it off!!
Emily:
We lost all this time,
and I fear I'll have nothing
to show for all the work
I've done up here,
and that's not going to be me.
Bluff is the only thing
that can save this season,
and I need to make it happen.
This isn't the craziest thing
somebody's ever done for gold,
but it's pretty close.
Whoo!
I wish this was sitting in Nome,
not here in a swamp.
[ Engine sputtering, revs ]
Man: I'll make them respect me
in the end.
Oh [Bleep] man.
Man:
Oh, man!
There's gold
all over the bottom right here.
Holy mother of [Bleep]
that's so beautiful!
[ wind whistling ]
♫
Narrator: The end of the season
is just weeks away,
and Alaska is poised
for a dazzling spring thaw.
Some miners are closer than ever
to a golden bonanza,
while the less fortunate
never say, "die,"
digging deep
to keep their dreams alive.
♫
In Nome...
♫
Kris: Well,
we're so close,
and now we're so far away.
I've got a million and one
things to do today.
♫
...despite a series of setbacks,
captain Kris Kelly
still believes in his mission
to lead his family
to golden greatness.
This is our year
to turn it around.
We're so close.
Kris:
At this point right now,
everything is starting
to come unfrailed.
When you hit that point,
the breaking point,
where you're ready to just
turn around and go home,
and that's when you really
have to take a couple breaths.
♫
Narrator:
This season...
Kris:
9.3 ounces.
That is the best gold cleanout
we've ever had in our lives.
In our lives!
Narrator:
After a record-setting start...
Man:
Kris, the air!
...busted equipment...
...bad decisions...
Kris: Dude,
where's the night crew?
My equipment's trashed.
Narrator:
...And an unfriendly neighbor...
Got something for you, Andy.
...have derailed their plans.
Either you guys can
give the stuff up peacefully,
or I'll bring the troopers out.
You got my property right now.
Now...
Kris: He thought
taking our equipment
was the knockout blow
and we'd be done.
We're just gonna keep
coming back, like rocky.
...Kris is determined to get
the family back on track.
There he is.
Let's go take care of this.
I told you he was here.
But there's a problem.
Yeah, it's going to be
a real fun day, now.
The former captain Kelly
may have jumped ship.
Do you think we can have a word
about what you're doing?
...sluice on my sled.
I'm going to take my engine,
I'm going to take
my hot-water system,
I'm going to go tomorrow.
You're not going to do anything.
You're not taking it.
We're so close to making it.
What the [Bleep]
is your problem?
Brad: Under Kris' captaincy,
the costs are adding up
and he's leading us
on a wild goose chase.
I can break away from him
and not listen to his big mouth
for a few minutes
and I can go get some gold.
That's my rope, too,
you [Bleep] loser.
Everything here is mine!
No, it isn't.
Yes, it is!
No, it isn't.
Yes, it is!
Do you want to
go through the inventory?
Yes, I do!
Kris:
Nobody believed
I was going to
make it to the bluffs this year.
Nobody believed that we were
going to get an ounce an hour.
Not one person but me.
This winter, I thought we were
all going to do well together.
But I need to succeed,
no matter what,
even if I do
all the work myself.
Kris: Dad!
You can't break up the teams!
♫
I really feel violent
when I look at him.
I can't believe
that's my father.
♫
[ dog barking in distance ]
Narrator:
On the other side of town...
This is insane.
Narrator: ...Captain Emily
Riedel is rolling the dice...
This isn't the craziest thing
somebody's ever done for gold,
but it's pretty close.
Narrator: ...Joining
the gold rush at the Bluff
in a last-ditch effort
to save her season.
Emily: If there is really
beautiful, amazing gold there,
then I won't have these regrets.
Narrator:
So far this winter...
I just found
a nice thing of gold down here.
Wow!
That's awesome.
After a hot start...
...it's been bad hole
after bad hole...
Emily:
We're not making money.
I don't know the hell it is
we're doing out here.
Narrator: ...As Emily went bust
at hasting's creek...
Emily: I just thought
I'd make a trip down
and ask you about
getting our [Bleep] down here.
...and soon heard the siren song
of gold at the Bluff.
You guys need to get
your stuff out here.
We're running out of days.
Now the captain
has emptied her bank account
to buy a week's worth of fuel
and supplies
to mount her expedition.
We only have so much time
to recover gold
before the state shuts us down.
So they'd have to be
some pretty phenomenal gold
for the risk to pay off.
Gold mining is all about
taking chances and crazy risks.
♫
Narrator:
Desperate to land on big gold,
Emily is taking a page
from the Kelly playbook
and set up shop
right next to Mr. Gold.
Shawn: Oh, he's getting ready
to go in the water.
About to kill it.
Going to be amazing.
Amazing gold down there.
Emily: I want to start
really succeeding up here.
And what people think about me
for going there, like,
they can all [Bleep] right off.
I don't care.
One thing I did have to learn
in being a female gold miner
in Nome is to not care.
I'm trying to be the best
gold miner I can possibly be.
I just have to put
my blinders on and go to work.
♫
Narrator: First in the water,
veteran diver Jesse Strickling.
Here I go.
♫
♫
♫
All right.
Back to work.
Here we go.
♫
Yeah!
Yeah!
Whoo!
♫
Well, this is it, you know?
First time out here.
It's either
going to work or not.
♫
Just moved a nice, big rock.
I'm going to take a peek
underneath it now.
Emily: Hey, Jesse,
how far away are you
from the dive hole?
Uh...
Probably like
25 feet or something.
Oh, okay.
You're almost maxed out up here.
Almost?
Yep.
I promised Jesse and Ricky.
I promised them a spot
with a lot of gold.
I mean, we can -- there's still
some time left in the season.
We can get onto something
and follow it
and make a lot of ounces,
make a lot of gorgeous,
coarse ounces.
Okay.
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
What was that?
My regulator
keeps free-blowing on me.
That's an early
freeze-up warning.
Yeah.
Narrator:
A regulator freeze-up occurs
when condensation
from the diver's breath collects
and freezes
inside the regulator,
cutting off the flow
of air to the diver.
If Jesse's regulator freezes,
he'll have mere seconds
to get back to the safe exit
of the dive hole.
♫
But that is not
his only problem.
Uh, do you think your hot water
is still running?
Um... No.
I'm coming back
to the hole right now.
Okay.
♫
What's going on?
Oh [Bleep]
Emily:
In the winter time,
your biggest enemy
is the weather.
I mean, everything's freezing.
Your equipment doesn't start
because it's too cold.
Your regulator is freezing
and causing you
to have dangerous dives.
That's the real obstacle.
Narrator:
Shut down and off the gold...
I'm going to stay out here.
Go to town and get the parts
of the hot-water heater,
come back tomorrow,
we'll do this again.
...Emily is forced to burn
one of her precious few days
on a supply run to Nome.
I believe in fighting like hell
for something.
It is what it is.
We got to move on.
You could encounter
difficulties up here
that kind of threaten
to break you on a regular basis.
I just can't let myself
be run down by them.
♫
Oh, man, here comes
my [Bleep] dad.
I've already replaced you.
Man:
Oh [Bleep] whoa.
Shut it off!
Pull! Pull!
♫
[ wind whistling ]
♫
Narrator: In Nome...
♫
[ dogs barking ]
...a new day dawns.
Kris: When we're trying
to leave tomorrow,
I just don't see it
happening for us.
Narrator: Captain Kris Kelly
is pulling his operation
out of brokedown city...
Hey, Andy,
go and borrow some wood.
Okay.
...by dipping into his
summer gear to scrape together
enough equipment to
make a final run at the Bluff.
Hey, grab the other side.
But at the moment,
house Kelly...
Kris: My dad pisses me off
that he's kind of given up
and he doesn't believe that
we're going to be millionaires.
Narrator:
...Is a house divided.
Kris:
I'm bitter at my dad.
He's 16 years older than me,
and he's my older brother.
That's kind of not even
like my older brother.
I've been having to kind of
lead the family
for the last 15 years.
I don't think
we're gonna be able
to go tomorrow, though,
for damn sure, you know?
Oh, man,
here comes my [Bleep] dad.
I really don't have time
for your [Bleep] today.
I've already replaced you, too.
Lookit, I just came back
to apologize.
Ever since we got back from this
place and seeing Shawn there,
it's been making me
a little crazy.
Brad: The stress of the season
definitely built
to a head there,
but we're family.
So we have to be forgiving,
right?
But I just came back
to apologize
and say that...
I'm willing to come back
if you'll have me back.
Don't you understand
i already replaced you?
What's that mean to me?
Nothing.
No, I just got a lot of things
to take care of, you know?
Like, you're taking
my time away.
Well, that's too bad.
I'm back.
♫
Okay, fine.
You better not
pull that [Bleep] again,
and you better --
I won't. I'll calm down.
I'll keep it in perspective.
Yeah.
Gold for the group.
Gold for the group.
Gold for the group.
Kris: I don't exactly know
how I got to this point
of him
being the martyr and everything,
but family is the only reason
I'm doing this.
If I'm going to build
anybody's life up,
it might as well be my family's.
Brad: We've been through
thick and thin together,
and yeah, we fight.
We fight every single day.
I wouldn't call it fighting,
but we debate in an unusual way.
We communicate.
It's our form of communication.
Narrator: And just like that,
for better or worse,
the band
is back together again...
For now.
Everything's expendable
this year.
Even you.
Everything?
Everything.
Even me!
Oh, I love that.
I love a captain willing
to sacrifice for the team.
Brad: We might be
a dysfunctional family,
but that's just the way it is,
you know what I mean?
♫
Narrator:
180 miles south of Nome...
...in the town
of St. Mary's, Alaska...
Shawn: Made it.
...Mr. Gold, Shawn Pomrenke,
is checking in
on the key component
to his $6 million
mega-dredge plan...
Man, there is no snow here.
...that he believes
will turn the family business
into a dynasty.
We're obviously
going to want this, too, right?
Yeah.
Patriarch and business partner
Steve Pomrenke is along
to make sure everything goes
according to plan.
The mega-dredge -- it's a way
to secure my own future.
I mean, dad --
I think he's got enough gold
stashed away
that he's pretty well off,
but I gots quite a few years
left in me.
And you want to benefit,
but you want
your family to benefit.
I want my kids to benefit.
And I know what's out there.
I've seen it.
Now it's just building
the machine to get it.
Narrator:
Last year...
How's it look up there?
How's that deck look?
A little rusty.
...Shawn located the foundation
of his mega-dredge --
A 160 by 40 foot,
633-ton river barge.
Oh, we're used to old,
rusty junk, aren't we?
He's already poured over
$1 million into the project...
You get the stress
that comes along
with something this big.
With more stress
comes more profits.
...and he'll need millions more
to finish it.
♫
Time to go across the river,
check out the barge.
♫
The mega-dredge
will keep me and my guys
and a bunch of people in town
busy for the next 20 years.
They'll bring in $75,000
every day.
I mean, we'll be printing
our own money, basically.
Narrator: But before Shawn can
settle into his golden future...
Shawn:
There it is.
Narrator: ...He's got
to figure out how to get
the land-locked barge
across the Bering Sea to Nome.
Steve:
In all her rusty glory.
♫
Well, she needs a paint job,
but...
Still solid.
Shawn:
Got a lot of work ahead of me
to get the mega-dredge
up and running.
But it's what I like.
I mean, dad and i
have always had old junk,
and we always fix it up
and make it work.
Narrator: And if it's not
in shape to make the trip
or if it needs costly repairs,
the project could be delayed
for years.
Still, it's, like,
froze in the dirt right now.
Half-sunk.
Just getting that barge
down the Yukon
is gonna be a fun trip,
for sure.
Steve: I wish this thing
was sitting in Nome,
not sitting here in a swamp.
That's what I wish.
[ Chuckles ]
Shawn: Oh, we'll get her
out of here.
♫
We need
to get this motor running
so we can pull the winches
so we can get this barge
out of the slough.
Narrator: Shawn's plan to float
the high-and-dry behemoth...
Steve:
The water comes up,
and it goes down
right after the ice goes out.
Once it's in the river,
we're good.
Narrator: ...Take advantage
of mother nature.
For just a few days
during the spring thaw,
flood waters will fill
the slough where the barge sits,
allowing it to be floated
into the deepwater channel
of the neighboring
andreafsky river.
There, Shawn will make
a final inspection to determine
if the barge is seaworthy
for the journey to Nome.
You know, we got such
a small window of time here.
We only got weeks
to get this out of here.
It's gonna come down to just
a day or couple days.
Narrator: For the plan to work,
the timing must be perfect.
Shawn:
The starts have a new beginning.
♫
Narrator:
180 miles North...
♫
You came back
with food, tents, gas.
...Kelly united
is back at the Bluff.
We need to turn
everything around right now
and focus all our force
into keeping you and I, Andy,
underneath the water 10 hours,
12 hours a day,
at the very minimum.
And with their season
on life support,
captain Kris is sending down
his heavy hitter.
Okay, get changed
into your suit, please.
It's time to make some money.
Kris:
I'm sending Andy down,
and if he doesn't
make magic happen,
I don't know
what I'm going to do.
Brad:
Be careful, buddy.
♫
♫
Okay.
Let's see
what we're working with.
♫
Kris: Okay, Andy.
Come on, man.
I really need to hear
some good news right now.
Tell me what you're on.
Hmm.
I don't see much.
♫
I just want to see
just 3/4 of an [Bleep]
But I'm not seeing it.
♫
Brad:
That's weird, huh?
Kris:
Oh, you're here!
Thank you, dad, for showing up.
And I'm still not seeing [Bleep]
Man, this better be worth it.
Go do something constructive!
Oh, shut up.
Don't stop arguing with me.
Got to love crabs, dude.
Yeah, ugly [Bleep] too.
Kris: Respect would be nice,
but I don't need that.
You don't need anything.
You just need to go to work
and make money.
That's all I need.
I'll make them respect me
in the end by showing them
that I [Bleep] belong here
and I'm not going away easy.
♫
Okay, I'll switch
these pots around.
♫
It looks like gold
is in two layers,
at the very least.
Oh my [Bleep]
Holy mother of [Bleep]
there's more!
Dude, that's so beautiful!
Narrator:
80 miles east of Nome...
♫
...at the Bluff...
Hopefully, we'll be ready
to dive here pretty soon.
Narrator: ...Nome's only
female dredge owner,
captain Emily Riedel,
is on a mission
to save her season.
It's a used hot-water heater
those guys grabbed
when they were in town.
Narrator: With her
hot-water system repaired,
it's time for veteran diver
Jesse Strickling
to get back under the ice.
♫
♫
Hey, what does
the bottom look like?
Jesse: Around an area
that looks like
a [Bleep] ton
of broken-up bedrock.
A lot of flat rocks
in between bigger rocks
that are about
12 inches to 20 inches.
The material down there
is pretty densely packed,
and it's more crowbar mining
than suction drudging.
Ugh. Wow.
All right.
Get her fired up.
♫
Yeah.
Yeah, I picked up
right where we left off.
Go deeper.
Deeper?
Yep.
Okay, I'm going deeper.
♫
Emily: How's the reception
with the new pump?
Oh, it's ripping.
Ripping suction.
To be a gold miner,
it's a lot of gambling,
it's a lot of risk-taking.
But if you dive up there
long enough,
if you work up there
long enough,
you learn to read the ground,
and you learn that there's
gold there or there's not.
So, what seems like gambling
is ultimately skill
and perseverance.
I just found a couple
of these real big rocks
going out into the sand.
There's a big dip in the clay.
Let's see if I can get
clear out around these,
I'll take a peek.
Yeah, Roger that.
Would be really nice.
You're not
seeing anything on this side?
I'm going into the sand.
I'm not seeing anything.
♫
♫
Gold seems to be spottier
than I thought
it was going to be, honestly.
I might just need a little bit
out of the pay line.
Failure is a natural byproduct
of trying hard to succeed.
I don't believe that it's always
darkest before the dawn.
I mean, sometimes it's dark
and dawn does not show up.
But one thing I've learned
is the gold
does not care about me at all.
Well, I guess I'll wrap around
a little bit to the east.
See if I run into some good pay.
♫
♫
Narrator:
180 miles South...
♫
...in St. Mary's, Alaska...
Shawn: Let's see if we can get
that damn motor going.
Steve: Yeah.
...Shawn Pomrenke
and his father, Steve,
are taking stock of the barge
that will form the base
of the mega-dredge.
Once I build the mega-dredge,
I'm going to be filthy rich.
[ Chuckles ]
I'm going to have big,
huge piles of gold.
Not little tiny ones.
Narrator:
A gold-getting behemoth
that'll process 6,088 tons
of material per day
and set up the Pomrenke family
to dominate the Nome gold game
for decades.
I like the throttle.
That's a nice throttle.
♫
Narrator: Step 1 in getting
the barge up and running --
Make sure
the 49-year-old engine works.
Yeah, don't worry about that.
Let's just see if it fires.
Here we go, Shawn.
I got throttle
and I got kill here, so...
[ Engine sputtering ]
It's gonna run.
It's a Detroit.
It's a good old Detroit.
They were some of
the best engines ever made.
They were called
the screaming jimmies
'cause they make more noise
than they do power.
You'll find that out, here,
if it starts.
This Detroit-made monster
is rated at 240 horsepower,
and after sitting for decades,
it needs a little pick-me-up...
Ether.
Ether.
...a double-dose
of starting fluid.
♫
[ engine sputters, starts ]
Bingo!
That sounded nice.
Yeah.
With the generator operational,
step 2 --
See if it can power
the anchoring system.
If we fire this thing up
too much
and the valve's
in the wrong position,
it can tear a winch off the deck
or strip the gears on the winch
or some silly thing like that.
We got to make sure that
the winches are in neutral
before we run this much anymore.
Let me go put those in neutral.
You need me to shut it off,
come holler, you know.
Yeah.
[ Engine starts ]
Oh, it fired right up.
♫
Oh [Bleep] whoa!
Shut it off!
Whoa! Whoa!
Hey!
♫
♫
Narrator: On the outskirts
of St. Mary's, Alaska...
♫
[ engine starts ]
Oh, it fired right up.
♫
Whoa!
Shut it off!
Whoa! Whoa!
Hey!
...Mr. Gold is testing the barge
that'll form the base
of his mega-dredge.
♫
Shut it off!
[ Banging ]
Shut it off!
He's turning the wrong one.
Watch out!
Watch --
Get out of there.
♫
[ engine shuts off ]
[ Creaking ]
Ooh, that was close.
That winch was engaged,
and I couldn't get it out.
Oh [Bleep]
That was scary.
If the winch
had continued running...
Started pulling on that.
It would've ripped this off,
ripped this out,
broke that, broke this,
broke everything.
Narrator:
...It would've ripped apart
the anchoring system,
making the barge
impossible to move
and killing any hope of building
the mega-dredge this summer.
That one was stuck on,
and I couldn't get it.
You didn't hear me
banging on the floor?
Steve: Yeah, I heard you banging
on the floor down here.
With disaster averted...
Got the motor fired up.
...and systems operational...
We got a short, short window
when the water comes up
to get this thing
out of here, so...
And it's looking like that's
the best route, right there.
Narrator:
...All that's left is to wait
for the spring melt
and be ready to act
when the water rises.
Alls there is to do now
is get this out of here.
♫
Narrator:
100 miles north...
♫
...at the Bluff...
Yeah, I create hillbilly
[Bleep] jacuzzi.
Narrator: With the Irish
failing to strike pay dirt
on their first dive
of the day...
I've got a [Bleep] load
of people I have to pay.
I really need to get down there
and make something
really happen today.
Narrator: ...Captain Kris Kelly
is taking the bull by the horns,
determined to keep his season
from coming to an end.
A lot of people really don't
believe that I belong here.
A lot of people believe that
i have no idea what I'm doing.
A lot of people say [Bleep]
Hope in my heart,
no brain in my head.
Right there good for you?
I am feeling more and more
stressed out by the day,
and I'm beginning to start
to feel desperate.
And I need this gold.
I need this to work at any cost.
All right, Jay.
You're good!
♫
♫
♫
Narrator:
The ice miner's umbilical
is comprised
of multiple components --
Air and hot-water hoses,
a communications line,
and at its core, a safety tether
that can bear
the weight of the diver
in case the top-side crew
needs to haul them out
in an emergency.
♫
Okay, suction.
I'm going to work.
All right.
♫
Great suction.
♫
How is it?
I'll tell you what I don't see.
I don't see
these 10-ounce pockets.
I don't see those, for sure.
♫
Oh, you stubborn bitch.
♫
I'm trying to be positive,
but I can't think
of a positive spin
to put on this right now.
♫
I just need to work.
I'll get
these [Bleep] rocks out.
♫
I wish I had the money to...
You know, be comfortable.
I don't know, I just...
I caught gold fever.
I thought that it was
going to be enormous gold.
But the supply line, the money,
hassling, trying to fix [Bleep]
The wonderful night crew.
You know what?
I don't want to blame
anybody right now.
But I know
we would have double the gold,
maybe triple,
because I spent
half my [Bleep] time
trying to work out
this night crew.
Oh [Bleep] man.
[ Grunts ]
Ah-ha!
There's gold here.
[ Laughs ]
Lots of shells,
lots of black [Bleep]
Right onto the yellow clay.
It looks like gold
is in two layers,
at the very least.
Oh, my [Bleep]
Amazing gold.
After three equipment failures,
three round trips to Nome
for parts,
and one absentee parent...
...captain Kris Kelly finally
has the Irish back on the gold.
I see between 1/2 ounce
and 1/3 ounce for sure.
But I'm probably getting more.
I don't know.
Yeah, you probably are.
It just drops in from the walls.
All right.
Let's hope.
♫
Kris: I hope to god we get
over 10 ounces right now.
Everything will be worth it.
Here we go.
There's gold all over
the bottom right here.
Emily: I can't believe
I'm seeing what I'm seeing.
Holy mother of [Bleep]
there's more!
♫
Kris:
I never use the word "failure."
You come up with
a hundred different ways
that it didn't work.
[ Laughter ]
[Bleep]
When you go home and that's it,
that's failing.
Kris:
Yeah, we made it!
Man: You guys just broke
your trailer.
Failing is when
you didn't make any money
and you have to run out of town.
Anchor aweigh!
Ah!
I don't fail.
I just never make success.
Narrator:
80 miles east of Nome...
At the Bluff...
Kris: Do you see
a lot of gold?
More gold than last time?
I know it's hard to tell.
...after weeks of setbacks,
the fightin' Irish
are cleaning pay dirt
for the second time this season.
Kris:
We need this gold.
Right now, I have nothing
but debts in town to pay.
They need their money back.
That's gold right there!
Narrator: And they're about
to find out if captain Kris'
four-hour dive
will yield enough gold...
Kris:
That's [Bleep] over 10 ounces.
Narrator: ...To get
the operation back in the black.
♫
Kris: I hope to god we get
over 10 ounces right now,
and then
everything will be worth it.
♫
Okay, here we go.
All right.
♫
All right. Here we go.
♫
Okay, we already
have it to -- so...
Holy [Bleep] that's terrible.
Kris:
How did that happen?
Narrator:
4.8 ounces is worth over $6,000.
Well, that sucks.
It's well short
of the captain's goal,
but just enough
to keep the motors running.
At over an ounce an hour,
it would normally
be cause for celebration.
I needed this gold cleanout
to be a good one.
Narrator: But with
the season end in sight,
time is running out
for the Kellys.
My family's beginning to portray
the smell of losers.
We look like a bunch of
[Bleep] clowns half the time,
and it's time for us
to start doing better at mining.
I'm so far down the hole,
the only way to get out
is to go deeper.
♫
Narrator:
Across the ice...
Do you know which direction
you're working right now?
Jesse:
To the east.
Um, can I get
a little bit more umbilical?
...after an audacious move
to the Bluff,
captain Emily Riedel
needs just one thing
to save her season...
Gold.
You hit the mother lode yet?
♫
Some of this sea life down here
is pretty colorful
on these rocks.
Wow.
This looks great.
It's really beautiful ground
around.
There's a lot of garnets, too.
It's either really rich
or nonexistent out here.
Ugh, ow.
Oh, man.
There's gold all over
the bottom right here.
♫
Look down in here.
This whole little crack
right here is full of it.
Look at it across the bottom.
It's coming out of the gravel
here and over here.
Emily:
Oh, nice, dude.
♫
That sounds like
we're on it, dude!
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
♫
Let's see.
You just see it pouring down.
Hey!
This is awesome.
Those are nice,
chippy pieces, too.
It looks really good.
♫
Gold is just the most
beautiful thing in the world,
and the fact
that it's so fricking hard
to get gold
makes gold even more seductive.
So I'm guessing
you've seen awesome gold
after all this time, Jesse?
Yeah.
I'm having a lot of fun
right now.
It's all over the place.
Really good gold.
Hey, Emily!
Yeah?
I'll be up there to take a peek.
You're coming up?
I'm gonna see what this
is looking like in the box.
Yeah, copy that.
All right.
Here I go.
♫
Big gold.
Oh, look at that!
Oh, it's so pretty!
Like a corn flake.
Nice, huh?
Oh [Bleep] oh, man!
I can't believe
I'm seeing what I'm seeing.
Look at that!
It is exactly
what I've been hearing about.
Like, these glorious,
big, coarse nuggets.
Holy mother of [Bleep]
there's more!
Dude, that's so
[Bleep] beautiful!
Now that we're out here
and we're diving
when we're on good gold,
it looks like we made
the right call coming out here.
There's still some time
left in the season.
We can make up for it.
And that's just
the most beautiful thing
in the world to me.
Narrator: With gold in the box
and promising ground below,
captain Emily's season
may finally be looking up.
Oh, wow.
Give it back to me.
I want to hold it a bit more.
Oh!
It's so pretty!
Captain Emily and the fighting
Irish are back on the gold.
But is it too little, too late?
♫
Kris:
We don't have much time,
and we got to make
maximum money right now.
I owe $14,500 right now,
and I can't pay any of it!
Emily: [Bleep]
I did not expect this.
Shawn: In Vegas to raise some
funds to get the mega-dredge.
Are you at the stage
for a $6 million investment,
or is it
the Steve and Shawn show?
Man:
I want to find a nugget, Sam.
I'm, like, hurtling towards
my breaking point.
Oh, bull[Bleep]
that's an excuse.
You don't have to [Bleep]
Andy!
Let him go!
♫
Now on "Bering Sea Gold"...
Kris: Dad, you can't
break up the teams!
At this point right now,
everything is starting
to come unfrailed.
I need my brother and my dad
to stand behind me.
Family is the only reason
I'm doing this.
Man:
The gold is there. I've seen it.
Now it's just building
the machine to get it.
The future of the family
is at stake.
I'm going to make it happen
no matter what.
Man:
Whoa! Shut it off!
Shut it off!!
Emily:
We lost all this time,
and I fear I'll have nothing
to show for all the work
I've done up here,
and that's not going to be me.
Bluff is the only thing
that can save this season,
and I need to make it happen.
This isn't the craziest thing
somebody's ever done for gold,
but it's pretty close.
Whoo!
I wish this was sitting in Nome,
not here in a swamp.
[ Engine sputtering, revs ]
Man: I'll make them respect me
in the end.
Oh [Bleep] man.
Man:
Oh, man!
There's gold
all over the bottom right here.
Holy mother of [Bleep]
that's so beautiful!
[ wind whistling ]
♫
Narrator: The end of the season
is just weeks away,
and Alaska is poised
for a dazzling spring thaw.
Some miners are closer than ever
to a golden bonanza,
while the less fortunate
never say, "die,"
digging deep
to keep their dreams alive.
♫
In Nome...
♫
Kris: Well,
we're so close,
and now we're so far away.
I've got a million and one
things to do today.
♫
...despite a series of setbacks,
captain Kris Kelly
still believes in his mission
to lead his family
to golden greatness.
This is our year
to turn it around.
We're so close.
Kris:
At this point right now,
everything is starting
to come unfrailed.
When you hit that point,
the breaking point,
where you're ready to just
turn around and go home,
and that's when you really
have to take a couple breaths.
♫
Narrator:
This season...
Kris:
9.3 ounces.
That is the best gold cleanout
we've ever had in our lives.
In our lives!
Narrator:
After a record-setting start...
Man:
Kris, the air!
...busted equipment...
...bad decisions...
Kris: Dude,
where's the night crew?
My equipment's trashed.
Narrator:
...And an unfriendly neighbor...
Got something for you, Andy.
...have derailed their plans.
Either you guys can
give the stuff up peacefully,
or I'll bring the troopers out.
You got my property right now.
Now...
Kris: He thought
taking our equipment
was the knockout blow
and we'd be done.
We're just gonna keep
coming back, like rocky.
...Kris is determined to get
the family back on track.
There he is.
Let's go take care of this.
I told you he was here.
But there's a problem.
Yeah, it's going to be
a real fun day, now.
The former captain Kelly
may have jumped ship.
Do you think we can have a word
about what you're doing?
...sluice on my sled.
I'm going to take my engine,
I'm going to take
my hot-water system,
I'm going to go tomorrow.
You're not going to do anything.
You're not taking it.
We're so close to making it.
What the [Bleep]
is your problem?
Brad: Under Kris' captaincy,
the costs are adding up
and he's leading us
on a wild goose chase.
I can break away from him
and not listen to his big mouth
for a few minutes
and I can go get some gold.
That's my rope, too,
you [Bleep] loser.
Everything here is mine!
No, it isn't.
Yes, it is!
No, it isn't.
Yes, it is!
Do you want to
go through the inventory?
Yes, I do!
Kris:
Nobody believed
I was going to
make it to the bluffs this year.
Nobody believed that we were
going to get an ounce an hour.
Not one person but me.
This winter, I thought we were
all going to do well together.
But I need to succeed,
no matter what,
even if I do
all the work myself.
Kris: Dad!
You can't break up the teams!
♫
I really feel violent
when I look at him.
I can't believe
that's my father.
♫
[ dog barking in distance ]
Narrator:
On the other side of town...
This is insane.
Narrator: ...Captain Emily
Riedel is rolling the dice...
This isn't the craziest thing
somebody's ever done for gold,
but it's pretty close.
Narrator: ...Joining
the gold rush at the Bluff
in a last-ditch effort
to save her season.
Emily: If there is really
beautiful, amazing gold there,
then I won't have these regrets.
Narrator:
So far this winter...
I just found
a nice thing of gold down here.
Wow!
That's awesome.
After a hot start...
...it's been bad hole
after bad hole...
Emily:
We're not making money.
I don't know the hell it is
we're doing out here.
Narrator: ...As Emily went bust
at hasting's creek...
Emily: I just thought
I'd make a trip down
and ask you about
getting our [Bleep] down here.
...and soon heard the siren song
of gold at the Bluff.
You guys need to get
your stuff out here.
We're running out of days.
Now the captain
has emptied her bank account
to buy a week's worth of fuel
and supplies
to mount her expedition.
We only have so much time
to recover gold
before the state shuts us down.
So they'd have to be
some pretty phenomenal gold
for the risk to pay off.
Gold mining is all about
taking chances and crazy risks.
♫
Narrator:
Desperate to land on big gold,
Emily is taking a page
from the Kelly playbook
and set up shop
right next to Mr. Gold.
Shawn: Oh, he's getting ready
to go in the water.
About to kill it.
Going to be amazing.
Amazing gold down there.
Emily: I want to start
really succeeding up here.
And what people think about me
for going there, like,
they can all [Bleep] right off.
I don't care.
One thing I did have to learn
in being a female gold miner
in Nome is to not care.
I'm trying to be the best
gold miner I can possibly be.
I just have to put
my blinders on and go to work.
♫
Narrator: First in the water,
veteran diver Jesse Strickling.
Here I go.
♫
♫
♫
All right.
Back to work.
Here we go.
♫
Yeah!
Yeah!
Whoo!
♫
Well, this is it, you know?
First time out here.
It's either
going to work or not.
♫
Just moved a nice, big rock.
I'm going to take a peek
underneath it now.
Emily: Hey, Jesse,
how far away are you
from the dive hole?
Uh...
Probably like
25 feet or something.
Oh, okay.
You're almost maxed out up here.
Almost?
Yep.
I promised Jesse and Ricky.
I promised them a spot
with a lot of gold.
I mean, we can -- there's still
some time left in the season.
We can get onto something
and follow it
and make a lot of ounces,
make a lot of gorgeous,
coarse ounces.
Okay.
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
What was that?
My regulator
keeps free-blowing on me.
That's an early
freeze-up warning.
Yeah.
Narrator:
A regulator freeze-up occurs
when condensation
from the diver's breath collects
and freezes
inside the regulator,
cutting off the flow
of air to the diver.
If Jesse's regulator freezes,
he'll have mere seconds
to get back to the safe exit
of the dive hole.
♫
But that is not
his only problem.
Uh, do you think your hot water
is still running?
Um... No.
I'm coming back
to the hole right now.
Okay.
♫
What's going on?
Oh [Bleep]
Emily:
In the winter time,
your biggest enemy
is the weather.
I mean, everything's freezing.
Your equipment doesn't start
because it's too cold.
Your regulator is freezing
and causing you
to have dangerous dives.
That's the real obstacle.
Narrator:
Shut down and off the gold...
I'm going to stay out here.
Go to town and get the parts
of the hot-water heater,
come back tomorrow,
we'll do this again.
...Emily is forced to burn
one of her precious few days
on a supply run to Nome.
I believe in fighting like hell
for something.
It is what it is.
We got to move on.
You could encounter
difficulties up here
that kind of threaten
to break you on a regular basis.
I just can't let myself
be run down by them.
♫
Oh, man, here comes
my [Bleep] dad.
I've already replaced you.
Man:
Oh [Bleep] whoa.
Shut it off!
Pull! Pull!
♫
[ wind whistling ]
♫
Narrator: In Nome...
♫
[ dogs barking ]
...a new day dawns.
Kris: When we're trying
to leave tomorrow,
I just don't see it
happening for us.
Narrator: Captain Kris Kelly
is pulling his operation
out of brokedown city...
Hey, Andy,
go and borrow some wood.
Okay.
...by dipping into his
summer gear to scrape together
enough equipment to
make a final run at the Bluff.
Hey, grab the other side.
But at the moment,
house Kelly...
Kris: My dad pisses me off
that he's kind of given up
and he doesn't believe that
we're going to be millionaires.
Narrator:
...Is a house divided.
Kris:
I'm bitter at my dad.
He's 16 years older than me,
and he's my older brother.
That's kind of not even
like my older brother.
I've been having to kind of
lead the family
for the last 15 years.
I don't think
we're gonna be able
to go tomorrow, though,
for damn sure, you know?
Oh, man,
here comes my [Bleep] dad.
I really don't have time
for your [Bleep] today.
I've already replaced you, too.
Lookit, I just came back
to apologize.
Ever since we got back from this
place and seeing Shawn there,
it's been making me
a little crazy.
Brad: The stress of the season
definitely built
to a head there,
but we're family.
So we have to be forgiving,
right?
But I just came back
to apologize
and say that...
I'm willing to come back
if you'll have me back.
Don't you understand
i already replaced you?
What's that mean to me?
Nothing.
No, I just got a lot of things
to take care of, you know?
Like, you're taking
my time away.
Well, that's too bad.
I'm back.
♫
Okay, fine.
You better not
pull that [Bleep] again,
and you better --
I won't. I'll calm down.
I'll keep it in perspective.
Yeah.
Gold for the group.
Gold for the group.
Gold for the group.
Kris: I don't exactly know
how I got to this point
of him
being the martyr and everything,
but family is the only reason
I'm doing this.
If I'm going to build
anybody's life up,
it might as well be my family's.
Brad: We've been through
thick and thin together,
and yeah, we fight.
We fight every single day.
I wouldn't call it fighting,
but we debate in an unusual way.
We communicate.
It's our form of communication.
Narrator: And just like that,
for better or worse,
the band
is back together again...
For now.
Everything's expendable
this year.
Even you.
Everything?
Everything.
Even me!
Oh, I love that.
I love a captain willing
to sacrifice for the team.
Brad: We might be
a dysfunctional family,
but that's just the way it is,
you know what I mean?
♫
Narrator:
180 miles south of Nome...
...in the town
of St. Mary's, Alaska...
Shawn: Made it.
...Mr. Gold, Shawn Pomrenke,
is checking in
on the key component
to his $6 million
mega-dredge plan...
Man, there is no snow here.
...that he believes
will turn the family business
into a dynasty.
We're obviously
going to want this, too, right?
Yeah.
Patriarch and business partner
Steve Pomrenke is along
to make sure everything goes
according to plan.
The mega-dredge -- it's a way
to secure my own future.
I mean, dad --
I think he's got enough gold
stashed away
that he's pretty well off,
but I gots quite a few years
left in me.
And you want to benefit,
but you want
your family to benefit.
I want my kids to benefit.
And I know what's out there.
I've seen it.
Now it's just building
the machine to get it.
Narrator:
Last year...
How's it look up there?
How's that deck look?
A little rusty.
...Shawn located the foundation
of his mega-dredge --
A 160 by 40 foot,
633-ton river barge.
Oh, we're used to old,
rusty junk, aren't we?
He's already poured over
$1 million into the project...
You get the stress
that comes along
with something this big.
With more stress
comes more profits.
...and he'll need millions more
to finish it.
♫
Time to go across the river,
check out the barge.
♫
The mega-dredge
will keep me and my guys
and a bunch of people in town
busy for the next 20 years.
They'll bring in $75,000
every day.
I mean, we'll be printing
our own money, basically.
Narrator: But before Shawn can
settle into his golden future...
Shawn:
There it is.
Narrator: ...He's got
to figure out how to get
the land-locked barge
across the Bering Sea to Nome.
Steve:
In all her rusty glory.
♫
Well, she needs a paint job,
but...
Still solid.
Shawn:
Got a lot of work ahead of me
to get the mega-dredge
up and running.
But it's what I like.
I mean, dad and i
have always had old junk,
and we always fix it up
and make it work.
Narrator: And if it's not
in shape to make the trip
or if it needs costly repairs,
the project could be delayed
for years.
Still, it's, like,
froze in the dirt right now.
Half-sunk.
Just getting that barge
down the Yukon
is gonna be a fun trip,
for sure.
Steve: I wish this thing
was sitting in Nome,
not sitting here in a swamp.
That's what I wish.
[ Chuckles ]
Shawn: Oh, we'll get her
out of here.
♫
We need
to get this motor running
so we can pull the winches
so we can get this barge
out of the slough.
Narrator: Shawn's plan to float
the high-and-dry behemoth...
Steve:
The water comes up,
and it goes down
right after the ice goes out.
Once it's in the river,
we're good.
Narrator: ...Take advantage
of mother nature.
For just a few days
during the spring thaw,
flood waters will fill
the slough where the barge sits,
allowing it to be floated
into the deepwater channel
of the neighboring
andreafsky river.
There, Shawn will make
a final inspection to determine
if the barge is seaworthy
for the journey to Nome.
You know, we got such
a small window of time here.
We only got weeks
to get this out of here.
It's gonna come down to just
a day or couple days.
Narrator: For the plan to work,
the timing must be perfect.
Shawn:
The starts have a new beginning.
♫
Narrator:
180 miles North...
♫
You came back
with food, tents, gas.
...Kelly united
is back at the Bluff.
We need to turn
everything around right now
and focus all our force
into keeping you and I, Andy,
underneath the water 10 hours,
12 hours a day,
at the very minimum.
And with their season
on life support,
captain Kris is sending down
his heavy hitter.
Okay, get changed
into your suit, please.
It's time to make some money.
Kris:
I'm sending Andy down,
and if he doesn't
make magic happen,
I don't know
what I'm going to do.
Brad:
Be careful, buddy.
♫
♫
Okay.
Let's see
what we're working with.
♫
Kris: Okay, Andy.
Come on, man.
I really need to hear
some good news right now.
Tell me what you're on.
Hmm.
I don't see much.
♫
I just want to see
just 3/4 of an [Bleep]
But I'm not seeing it.
♫
Brad:
That's weird, huh?
Kris:
Oh, you're here!
Thank you, dad, for showing up.
And I'm still not seeing [Bleep]
Man, this better be worth it.
Go do something constructive!
Oh, shut up.
Don't stop arguing with me.
Got to love crabs, dude.
Yeah, ugly [Bleep] too.
Kris: Respect would be nice,
but I don't need that.
You don't need anything.
You just need to go to work
and make money.
That's all I need.
I'll make them respect me
in the end by showing them
that I [Bleep] belong here
and I'm not going away easy.
♫
Okay, I'll switch
these pots around.
♫
It looks like gold
is in two layers,
at the very least.
Oh my [Bleep]
Holy mother of [Bleep]
there's more!
Dude, that's so beautiful!
Narrator:
80 miles east of Nome...
♫
...at the Bluff...
Hopefully, we'll be ready
to dive here pretty soon.
Narrator: ...Nome's only
female dredge owner,
captain Emily Riedel,
is on a mission
to save her season.
It's a used hot-water heater
those guys grabbed
when they were in town.
Narrator: With her
hot-water system repaired,
it's time for veteran diver
Jesse Strickling
to get back under the ice.
♫
♫
Hey, what does
the bottom look like?
Jesse: Around an area
that looks like
a [Bleep] ton
of broken-up bedrock.
A lot of flat rocks
in between bigger rocks
that are about
12 inches to 20 inches.
The material down there
is pretty densely packed,
and it's more crowbar mining
than suction drudging.
Ugh. Wow.
All right.
Get her fired up.
♫
Yeah.
Yeah, I picked up
right where we left off.
Go deeper.
Deeper?
Yep.
Okay, I'm going deeper.
♫
Emily: How's the reception
with the new pump?
Oh, it's ripping.
Ripping suction.
To be a gold miner,
it's a lot of gambling,
it's a lot of risk-taking.
But if you dive up there
long enough,
if you work up there
long enough,
you learn to read the ground,
and you learn that there's
gold there or there's not.
So, what seems like gambling
is ultimately skill
and perseverance.
I just found a couple
of these real big rocks
going out into the sand.
There's a big dip in the clay.
Let's see if I can get
clear out around these,
I'll take a peek.
Yeah, Roger that.
Would be really nice.
You're not
seeing anything on this side?
I'm going into the sand.
I'm not seeing anything.
♫
♫
Gold seems to be spottier
than I thought
it was going to be, honestly.
I might just need a little bit
out of the pay line.
Failure is a natural byproduct
of trying hard to succeed.
I don't believe that it's always
darkest before the dawn.
I mean, sometimes it's dark
and dawn does not show up.
But one thing I've learned
is the gold
does not care about me at all.
Well, I guess I'll wrap around
a little bit to the east.
See if I run into some good pay.
♫
♫
Narrator:
180 miles South...
♫
...in St. Mary's, Alaska...
Shawn: Let's see if we can get
that damn motor going.
Steve: Yeah.
...Shawn Pomrenke
and his father, Steve,
are taking stock of the barge
that will form the base
of the mega-dredge.
Once I build the mega-dredge,
I'm going to be filthy rich.
[ Chuckles ]
I'm going to have big,
huge piles of gold.
Not little tiny ones.
Narrator:
A gold-getting behemoth
that'll process 6,088 tons
of material per day
and set up the Pomrenke family
to dominate the Nome gold game
for decades.
I like the throttle.
That's a nice throttle.
♫
Narrator: Step 1 in getting
the barge up and running --
Make sure
the 49-year-old engine works.
Yeah, don't worry about that.
Let's just see if it fires.
Here we go, Shawn.
I got throttle
and I got kill here, so...
[ Engine sputtering ]
It's gonna run.
It's a Detroit.
It's a good old Detroit.
They were some of
the best engines ever made.
They were called
the screaming jimmies
'cause they make more noise
than they do power.
You'll find that out, here,
if it starts.
This Detroit-made monster
is rated at 240 horsepower,
and after sitting for decades,
it needs a little pick-me-up...
Ether.
Ether.
...a double-dose
of starting fluid.
♫
[ engine sputters, starts ]
Bingo!
That sounded nice.
Yeah.
With the generator operational,
step 2 --
See if it can power
the anchoring system.
If we fire this thing up
too much
and the valve's
in the wrong position,
it can tear a winch off the deck
or strip the gears on the winch
or some silly thing like that.
We got to make sure that
the winches are in neutral
before we run this much anymore.
Let me go put those in neutral.
You need me to shut it off,
come holler, you know.
Yeah.
[ Engine starts ]
Oh, it fired right up.
♫
Oh [Bleep] whoa!
Shut it off!
Whoa! Whoa!
Hey!
♫
♫
Narrator: On the outskirts
of St. Mary's, Alaska...
♫
[ engine starts ]
Oh, it fired right up.
♫
Whoa!
Shut it off!
Whoa! Whoa!
Hey!
...Mr. Gold is testing the barge
that'll form the base
of his mega-dredge.
♫
Shut it off!
[ Banging ]
Shut it off!
He's turning the wrong one.
Watch out!
Watch --
Get out of there.
♫
[ engine shuts off ]
[ Creaking ]
Ooh, that was close.
That winch was engaged,
and I couldn't get it out.
Oh [Bleep]
That was scary.
If the winch
had continued running...
Started pulling on that.
It would've ripped this off,
ripped this out,
broke that, broke this,
broke everything.
Narrator:
...It would've ripped apart
the anchoring system,
making the barge
impossible to move
and killing any hope of building
the mega-dredge this summer.
That one was stuck on,
and I couldn't get it.
You didn't hear me
banging on the floor?
Steve: Yeah, I heard you banging
on the floor down here.
With disaster averted...
Got the motor fired up.
...and systems operational...
We got a short, short window
when the water comes up
to get this thing
out of here, so...
And it's looking like that's
the best route, right there.
Narrator:
...All that's left is to wait
for the spring melt
and be ready to act
when the water rises.
Alls there is to do now
is get this out of here.
♫
Narrator:
100 miles north...
♫
...at the Bluff...
Yeah, I create hillbilly
[Bleep] jacuzzi.
Narrator: With the Irish
failing to strike pay dirt
on their first dive
of the day...
I've got a [Bleep] load
of people I have to pay.
I really need to get down there
and make something
really happen today.
Narrator: ...Captain Kris Kelly
is taking the bull by the horns,
determined to keep his season
from coming to an end.
A lot of people really don't
believe that I belong here.
A lot of people believe that
i have no idea what I'm doing.
A lot of people say [Bleep]
Hope in my heart,
no brain in my head.
Right there good for you?
I am feeling more and more
stressed out by the day,
and I'm beginning to start
to feel desperate.
And I need this gold.
I need this to work at any cost.
All right, Jay.
You're good!
♫
♫
♫
Narrator:
The ice miner's umbilical
is comprised
of multiple components --
Air and hot-water hoses,
a communications line,
and at its core, a safety tether
that can bear
the weight of the diver
in case the top-side crew
needs to haul them out
in an emergency.
♫
Okay, suction.
I'm going to work.
All right.
♫
Great suction.
♫
How is it?
I'll tell you what I don't see.
I don't see
these 10-ounce pockets.
I don't see those, for sure.
♫
Oh, you stubborn bitch.
♫
I'm trying to be positive,
but I can't think
of a positive spin
to put on this right now.
♫
I just need to work.
I'll get
these [Bleep] rocks out.
♫
I wish I had the money to...
You know, be comfortable.
I don't know, I just...
I caught gold fever.
I thought that it was
going to be enormous gold.
But the supply line, the money,
hassling, trying to fix [Bleep]
The wonderful night crew.
You know what?
I don't want to blame
anybody right now.
But I know
we would have double the gold,
maybe triple,
because I spent
half my [Bleep] time
trying to work out
this night crew.
Oh [Bleep] man.
[ Grunts ]
Ah-ha!
There's gold here.
[ Laughs ]
Lots of shells,
lots of black [Bleep]
Right onto the yellow clay.
It looks like gold
is in two layers,
at the very least.
Oh, my [Bleep]
Amazing gold.
After three equipment failures,
three round trips to Nome
for parts,
and one absentee parent...
...captain Kris Kelly finally
has the Irish back on the gold.
I see between 1/2 ounce
and 1/3 ounce for sure.
But I'm probably getting more.
I don't know.
Yeah, you probably are.
It just drops in from the walls.
All right.
Let's hope.
♫
Kris: I hope to god we get
over 10 ounces right now.
Everything will be worth it.
Here we go.
There's gold all over
the bottom right here.
Emily: I can't believe
I'm seeing what I'm seeing.
Holy mother of [Bleep]
there's more!
♫
Kris:
I never use the word "failure."
You come up with
a hundred different ways
that it didn't work.
[ Laughter ]
[Bleep]
When you go home and that's it,
that's failing.
Kris:
Yeah, we made it!
Man: You guys just broke
your trailer.
Failing is when
you didn't make any money
and you have to run out of town.
Anchor aweigh!
Ah!
I don't fail.
I just never make success.
Narrator:
80 miles east of Nome...
At the Bluff...
Kris: Do you see
a lot of gold?
More gold than last time?
I know it's hard to tell.
...after weeks of setbacks,
the fightin' Irish
are cleaning pay dirt
for the second time this season.
Kris:
We need this gold.
Right now, I have nothing
but debts in town to pay.
They need their money back.
That's gold right there!
Narrator: And they're about
to find out if captain Kris'
four-hour dive
will yield enough gold...
Kris:
That's [Bleep] over 10 ounces.
Narrator: ...To get
the operation back in the black.
♫
Kris: I hope to god we get
over 10 ounces right now,
and then
everything will be worth it.
♫
Okay, here we go.
All right.
♫
All right. Here we go.
♫
Okay, we already
have it to -- so...
Holy [Bleep] that's terrible.
Kris:
How did that happen?
Narrator:
4.8 ounces is worth over $6,000.
Well, that sucks.
It's well short
of the captain's goal,
but just enough
to keep the motors running.
At over an ounce an hour,
it would normally
be cause for celebration.
I needed this gold cleanout
to be a good one.
Narrator: But with
the season end in sight,
time is running out
for the Kellys.
My family's beginning to portray
the smell of losers.
We look like a bunch of
[Bleep] clowns half the time,
and it's time for us
to start doing better at mining.
I'm so far down the hole,
the only way to get out
is to go deeper.
♫
Narrator:
Across the ice...
Do you know which direction
you're working right now?
Jesse:
To the east.
Um, can I get
a little bit more umbilical?
...after an audacious move
to the Bluff,
captain Emily Riedel
needs just one thing
to save her season...
Gold.
You hit the mother lode yet?
♫
Some of this sea life down here
is pretty colorful
on these rocks.
Wow.
This looks great.
It's really beautiful ground
around.
There's a lot of garnets, too.
It's either really rich
or nonexistent out here.
Ugh, ow.
Oh, man.
There's gold all over
the bottom right here.
♫
Look down in here.
This whole little crack
right here is full of it.
Look at it across the bottom.
It's coming out of the gravel
here and over here.
Emily:
Oh, nice, dude.
♫
That sounds like
we're on it, dude!
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
♫
Let's see.
You just see it pouring down.
Hey!
This is awesome.
Those are nice,
chippy pieces, too.
It looks really good.
♫
Gold is just the most
beautiful thing in the world,
and the fact
that it's so fricking hard
to get gold
makes gold even more seductive.
So I'm guessing
you've seen awesome gold
after all this time, Jesse?
Yeah.
I'm having a lot of fun
right now.
It's all over the place.
Really good gold.
Hey, Emily!
Yeah?
I'll be up there to take a peek.
You're coming up?
I'm gonna see what this
is looking like in the box.
Yeah, copy that.
All right.
Here I go.
♫
Big gold.
Oh, look at that!
Oh, it's so pretty!
Like a corn flake.
Nice, huh?
Oh [Bleep] oh, man!
I can't believe
I'm seeing what I'm seeing.
Look at that!
It is exactly
what I've been hearing about.
Like, these glorious,
big, coarse nuggets.
Holy mother of [Bleep]
there's more!
Dude, that's so
[Bleep] beautiful!
Now that we're out here
and we're diving
when we're on good gold,
it looks like we made
the right call coming out here.
There's still some time
left in the season.
We can make up for it.
And that's just
the most beautiful thing
in the world to me.
Narrator: With gold in the box
and promising ground below,
captain Emily's season
may finally be looking up.
Oh, wow.
Give it back to me.
I want to hold it a bit more.
Oh!
It's so pretty!
Captain Emily and the fighting
Irish are back on the gold.
But is it too little, too late?
♫
Kris:
We don't have much time,
and we got to make
maximum money right now.
I owe $14,500 right now,
and I can't pay any of it!
Emily: [Bleep]
I did not expect this.
Shawn: In Vegas to raise some
funds to get the mega-dredge.
Are you at the stage
for a $6 million investment,
or is it
the Steve and Shawn show?
Man:
I want to find a nugget, Sam.
I'm, like, hurtling towards
my breaking point.
Oh, bull[Bleep]
that's an excuse.
You don't have to [Bleep]
Andy!
Let him go!
♫